Contextualizing "text and context": An annotation of the Fall 2020 syllabus for PUB 800 at SFU

This report documents my experience of teaching PUB 800 – Text and Context: Publishing in Contemporary Culture at SFU Publishing in the Fall 2020 semester, which was both my first time teaching this course and the first time it had been delivered remotely, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It details the work of designing a publishing theory seminar as a non-academic, industry professional, and examines how a course that originated as a primer in Canadian publishing policy has evolved into a seminar course that more broadly interrogates the structure, state, and culture of contemporary publishing. The report reflects on the challenges of structuring the course to adequately cover the necessary material in twelve weeks, and on the limitations of using Canadian book publishing as the course’s primary case study. It also looks at the adaptations made to the course structure and delivery in light of the pandemic.